Editorial

Consumers are putting themselves first these days. They’ve simply had enough of people telling them what to do and making decisions for them, whether it comes to their money and investments or health and beauty needs.
In terms of the la…
Read More »

I don’t know about you but I am still in shock that Ahlstrom is leaving the wipes market. For years, Ahlstrom seemed intent on gobbling up every small- to mid-sized wipes producer on the planet, a strategy that made it the world’s large…
Read More »

Just as one issue gets resolved, another emerges. Less than two months after the US Food and Drug Administration issued testing and labeling requirements for sunscreens (see p. 50 in this issue), an Aug. 19 article in The New York Times reported th…
Read More »

It’s been said that I’ve got a face that’s made for radio. Unfortunately, my voice isn’t any better, so it’s no wonder why, 30 years ago, print became my medium of choice. Still, there’s no denying that how peopl…
Read More »

Editors Page
JUNE IS ALL ABOUT FINISHING one chapter and starting another—you know, the graduation thing. This time of year always reminds me of those lazy senior days in high school when sports were over, extracurricular activities were fini…
Read More »

Back in the 1970s, after a tough day in the third grade (if you had Mrs. Swillinger you’d know what I mean) I would come home to the familiar scene of my mother doing laundry, ironing clothes, washing the floor—her list of chores was endl…
Read More »

The recent announcement by Procter & Gamble (P&G) that it was raising prices on many of its consumer products should come as no surprise to anyone who’s been following the rise in commodity costs during the past year. Speaking at a Co…
Read More »

The Q4 results are rolling in and it’s mostly good news for suppliers and marketers alike. Suppliers report strong demand for innovative solutions to complex formulation problems in the household and personal care industry, while marketers sa…
Read More »

Every day, my local newspaper—you remember newspapers, don’t you?—publishes a photo from its archives; one of those “a look back” sort ofthings. Recently, there was a 1950s photo taken on Black Friday, the big selling da…
Read More »

The Seventh World Conference on Detergents (see p. 94 in this issue) was a huge success—every presentation was insightful and entertaining. I’ve been attending conferences, seminars and congresses around the world for more than 20 years a…
Read More »

Believe it or not, there are some winners when the economy turns south. Some of those winners are store brands. According to the Private Label Manufacturers Association (PLMA), private label products grabbed an even bigger slice of the consumer&rsquo…
Read More »

The beauty-from-within market, or what we call Beauty I&O, held steady during the recession, along with the other segments that filter into the category, such as organic and natural ingredients. While growth has not been stellar, and there h…
Read More »

There’s no doubt about it. There are a lot of wipes out there. Everyone knows about the gold standards—baby wipes, floor cleaning wipes, disinfectant wipes—but did you know there is a wipe out there to grease a frying pan before c…
Read More »

You can learn a lot from a bag of chips, apparently. Frito-Lay executives must have thought that they were on to something big when they began packaging their Sun Chips snacks in biodegradable plant material (poly lactic acid) instead of plastic. Aft…
Read More »